Rewrite the Stars
by ocfairygodmother
Summary: Emily Bartlet, President Josiah Bartlet's second oldest daughter, never meant to fall for his Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman and he never meant to fall for her. But somehow, they did. Can they rewrite the stars to change the world to be theirs?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

* * *

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman paced the space in front of his desk for the thousandth time that morning. It seemed like his West Wing office had suddenly gotten a lot smaller in the last few days. He couldn't bring himself to focus on his job, a very important job too. His thoughts were preoccupied. He ran his fingers through his hair. How the hell had this happened? How had he _allowed_ this to happen? Hadn't he given himself one rule to abide by since the campaign? Under absolutely no circumstances was he to fall for the president's daughter. One rule. One. And he had screwed the pooch on that one.

Emily Bartlet, second daughter of President Josiah Bartlet, his boss, had somehow managed to make him completely disregard his only rule and throw caution to the wind. To make matters worse, he just couldn't bring himself to stop thinking about her. Her eyes. Her smile. Her laugh. The way she looked at him. To say that he was infatuated would have been an understatement. He felt like a teenage girl in love for the first time-of which he was neither. He was a grown man, but these strong feelings for her were completely new territory for him to trek. He had had girlfriends before...several actually, but now looking back on things, the feelings he had for any of them paled in comparison to his feelings now. There was just something about Emily Bartlet.

Josh glanced at one of the pictures on his wall and smiled fondly. It was a newspaper clipping titled _Joshua Lyman to Join Bartlet for America_ the accompanying picture had been taken in Nashua, New Hampshire after a speech given at the VFW. It was a picture of him seated at a table with Emily, then Candidate Bartlet and Leo behind them. Josh smiled. Not only was that the night he had decided to join the campaign, but it was the night he had his first encounter with Emily. A life-changing encounter at that.

* * *

 _ **13 weeks before the 1998 New Hampshire Primary. . .**_

The fallen leaves rustled and danced in the bitter wind that swept through the darkness as a twenty-something woman crossed the streets of Nashua. Her shadow cast against the street from the shine of the street light. She tucked her curly dishwater-blonde hair behind her ear before shoving her hands in her jeans pockets and burying her nose below the collar of her dark blue Yale sweatshirt. She should have remembered to wear a jacket, but apparently, she had forgotten how chilly New Hampshire could be at this time of the year. Having grown up just down the road in Manchester, she really should have known better.

Reluctantly, Emily pulled her right arm from her pocket to check a silver wristwatch. She was late. Dinner had started five minutes ago. Emily knew better than to be late for an event and make a scene, but the traffic had been terrible coming up from New Haven. In her defense, she hadn't even missed the speech yet, just the start of dinner, nothing catastrophic. Emily then shoved her hand back in her pocket and ascended the stairs in a bit of a run.

There was an older gentleman dressed in a brown leather jacket with a plaid shirt underneath, holding the door open for her. Emily muttered her thanks before she entered the warm building. When the warm air hit her cheeks, she sighed in contentment before she followed the sound of people talking and forks and knives clanking against plates. Going to these types of events wasn't her favorite thing in the world, but for her dad, she would suffer through. The look of surprise on his face would be reason enough. He didn't know she was coming nor that was she was spending the weekend at home.

When she entered the room, she spotted Leo McGarry, a good friend of her father's who had encouraged her to attend the event, talking to a gentleman at one of the tables toward the front of the room. Leo nodded his head and Emily gave a quick wave before she looked for an empty seat at the back of the room. There was a table in the back on the right side of the room with a guy more focused on a newspaper than his dinner. Emily quickly headed toward that table as to not draw too much attention to herself. She kept her head down and made sure that her hair covered her face from the crowd. While outside of politics, she wasn't noticed often due to her status as the governor's daughter, but tonight was a completely different story.

As she approached the table with the lone man, Emily thought that he looked vaguely familiar. She couldn't place where she had seen him before, but there was something about him that she recognized. She had met so many different people through college and her father's political career, it was impossible to keep track of them all. If he acted as she should know him, she would just smile, nod, and pretend she knew him like she usually did.

Emily stopped behind an empty chair to the man's right. He glanced over at her for a moment before he set his newspaper down before he picked up his fork and turned his attention to his meal. Emily was baffled by his response. She wasn't used to being ignored, especially not at a political shindig.

After chewing her lip, Emily quietly asked, "Is this seat taken?"

The man had just stuffed a rather large piece of chicken in his mouth while she was asking. He recognized that she was trying to talk with him because his head flung up. But he looked at her through squinted eyes, clearly confused and unsure of what she had said. He quickly chewed his food and swallowed it hard. "What?" he asked before taking a sip of his water.

"Is this seat taken?" Emily asked again pointing at the chair to his right.

He shook his head before he took another bite of his chicken. Emily shook her head and chuckled to herself at the man's actions as she pulled the chair out and took a seat, dropping her backpack to the floor. One of the staff must have noticed her tardy entrance because she had barely sat down when a plate was placed in front of her.

Emily smiled up at the blushing man. She thanked him and he stood just stood there smiling at her. It wasn't until one of his coworkers hissed his name that he quickly scurried off. Emily giggled. There was always someone like that. It was a reality she had to accept being the daughter of a public figure. She was about to explain that to the guy next to her, but he seemed to be completely oblivious. Emily wasn't sure why, but that frustrated her. She didn't usually enjoy being the center of attention, but she also didn't like being ignored.

Knowing that this guy could be one of her father's constituents, Emily felt that she had to engage him in conversation somehow. So, she quietly observed him as she cut her chicken into bite-size pieces. Emily quickly noticed that he was without a wedding ring leading her to believe that he was either one of those perpetually single guys or else had a fear of committing the rest of his life to someone. Potentially could be both. Hard to say without actually knowing him. His hair was a little disheveled, his coat wrinkled, and his tie was loosened. This was probably the end of a very long day for him. He kept looking at his watch meaning he was either on some sort of time crunch or he had other, maybe better, places to be.

Suddenly, she found his brown eyes staring at her quizzically. Emily blushed and averted her eyes. He knew she had been staring at him...although, not for the reasons he probably believed. Ugh. This was embarrassing, not at all what she wanted to deal with tonight of all nights.

Trying to avoid further embarrassment from having watched him so closely, Emily glanced at the newspaper he had placed on the table with the crossword facing up. Emily softly smiled to herself. She had done that crossword before she left New Haven. Well, all of it but eight across. She couldn't help but see that this guy had number eight across filled in. 1969 World Series Winners. _N-E-W-Y-O-R-K-M-E-T-S_ Emily made a mental note to fill that in her paper later. She hadn't had time to scour around to find World Series records before she left

Emily took several bites of her chicken, before glancing at his crossword again. She spotted a mistake. She took slower bites as she decided whether or not to point it out to him. When she realized that it would hopefully change the subject so that he might forget her staring at him, she decided to go for it. Emily took a sip of her water to soothe her dry throat and nervously tucked her hair behind her ear before she said, "Number twelve down is wrong."

Again, she had caught him at a bad time. He had just taken an unusually large bite of his salad. "What?" he asked.

Emily took a deep breath and repeated herself. "Number twelve down is wrong. Adam and Eve's grandson."

The man shook his head. "I'm no biblical scholar, but I know a thing or two, and you see, most people don't know this, but Cain had a son with that name."

"Well, I must not be your average person then because I've heard of Enoch. My problem is that his name doesn't end with a _k_ as it does on your explains why you can't get fourteen across. You're looking for Enos, E-N-O-S, Seth's son, which puts an _s_ as the first letter of fourteen across, a domestic, hairless cat breed so that you get the word…"

"Sphynx," he interrupted. "S-P-H-Y-N-X"

"Yeah," Emily said, her tone somewhat deflated. That wasn't exactly how she expected things to go, but then again, she wasn't sure what she expected. She blushed, realizing his gaze was still on her. This certainly wasn't going to win her father a supporter. Emily was thankful when he picked up his newspaper and pen, taking his gaze from her.

Normally she was not this awkward with people. But it seemed like for whatever reason, this guy brought out her most awkward side. She tried to focus on eating her mashed potatoes while he scribbled on his newspaper. Emily had just taken a rather large bite of potatoes when the guy turned to her, shook his head and said, "So, you're one of _those_ people?"

She swallowed hard. "One of _what_ people?"

He looked at her rather pointedly, despite the smile on this face. "One of those people who can't help but do other people's crosswords for them."

Emily arched an eyebrow at him. "I'd like to think of it as helping people do their crosswords."

There was a moment of silence before he chuckled. "Touche."

She gave a slight sigh of relief before she smiled sweetly at him and introduced herself. "I'm Emily, by the way."

"Josh."

Emily went to extend her right hand toward him, accidentally knocking her glass of water onto the table and Josh's lap. Her eyes widened in horror. She quickly removed the napkin from her lap to clean it up. Josh then reached for an unused cloth napkin at the empty place setting, but when he was pulling the napkin back toward him, he bumped his glass of water, spilling it over the table and Emily.

The ice water shocked Emily so much that she froze. Both of them sat there frozen for a few seconds before they both burst into laughter, standing up to shake the water off. So much for being low-key; all eyes were on her and this Josh guy. People at nearby tables were talking and laughing. A nearby reporter even snapped a picture. That picture would definitely be a keeper.

"I think we're gonna need some more water at that table," Josiah Bartlet said from the podium with a smile on his face, looking at the scene his daughter was making.

Emily looked up at her father and offered him a sympathetic smile only to see him trying to hold back his laughter. Not exactly how she planned on surprising him, but he looked happy to see her nonetheless. She had no doubt that he would bring the incident up after his speech. Probably something about stealing the spotlight, which she knew would be said in jest. But still. She was already embarrassed enough as it was, she didn't need the torture to be endless.

The staff came to their aid. They changed the tablecloth and switched the chairs for dry ones. Once that was done, they placed their plates along with new glasses of water on the table. As they took their seats, a few people clapped, including her father.

"That was the comedic relief for the evening," Josiah Bartlet said in a teasing tone. "Now onto business." He then delved into the speech prepared for the evening.

No longer hungry, Emily carefully pushed her plate away. She chuckled at one of her dad's lame jokes. Josh looked at her and leaned a little closer, whispering, "I'm sorry, I have to ask. Did you actually go to Yale or are you one of those people who wear another college's apparel even though you didn't actually go there to make themselves seem smarter than they actually are?"

Emily arched an eyebrow and looked up at him. Talk about blunt. "If you must know, I currently attend Yale. I'm in my last semester of law school."

He almost looked impressed. "Huh. I went to Yale for law."

Emily just nodded her head. She did find it interesting that he'd attended the same law school, but she was also trying to listen to her father speak. He was most likely going to ask her about the speech later and she wanted to be able to respond honestly. But apparently, Josh's curiosity got the better of him.

He leaned over again and whispered. "So, you're going to be a lawyer then."

Emily shook her head, her eyes still on her father. "No."

Josh frowned. "Something with politics?"

"Nope."

"Academia?"

"No."

"Consultant?"

"No."

"Lobbyist?" Clearly, he was getting desperate.

Emily chuckled thinking of herself as a lobbyist before she responded, "Nope."

"Uhh...good God, I'm out of ideas." Josh chuckled uncomfortably, scratching his head. "Then why go to law school?"

Emily smirked and turned toward him. "Because I thought it would be really cool to say that I went to law school."

Josh blinked slowly several times, the smile on his face nearly vanishing. "Are you serious?"

"No," she chuckled, shaking her head. "This time last year, I had every intention of being a lawyer. But things change."

"Then why keep going to law school?"

Emily arched an eyebrow and whispered, "For someone you've just met, you're awfully curious." Josh just smiled and gave her a look that had probably gotten him his way hundreds of times. He still wanted her to answer the question. Emily folded her arms across her chest and sighed.

"I set out to attend law school and I'm sure as hell gonna finish law school. So, I don't become a lawyer or have a job related to law. It's not the end of the world. I accomplished what I set out to do, my dream just changed. Now, if you wouldn't mind, I came here to listen to him speak." Emily pointed toward the stage. "And you should too."

Josh nodded his head and picked up his newspaper again, attempting to finish the crossword puzzle. Emily tried to listen to her father, but she had a nagging feeling in her gut. All the questions. What if she recognized this guy earlier because he was a reporter and she had just divulged her secret plan to him. Even her parents didn't know that she wasn't pursuing law. That was what she was considering telling them this weekend, but she would probably back out of doing that somehow. But if the press somehow got a hold of that story...

Emily turned toward him, nervously tucking her hair behind her ear, and asked, "You're not a reporter, are you?"

He blinked slowly several times before he chuckled. "God, no."

"Oh, thank goodness," Emily breathed a sigh of relief and ran her fingers through her hair.

Josh smiled, showing his dimples and pointed up at the speaker "Now if you wouldn't mind, I came here to listen to Bartlet speak." The fact that he used her very words against her wasn't missed by Emily. His teasing words even helped her feel a little better, even if he did return his attention to his crossword rather than watch her father.

After Josiah Bartlet's prepared marks, he switched gears for the Q&A portion of the evening. While she hadn't heard much of the short speech, Emily thought her father had done well, but his team that sat in the opposite corner of the room looked nervous. Well, all of them except one, whose name was currently escaping her. She was pretty sure it began with a T. Tommy? Emily shrugged her shoulders. She would worry about learning people's names when she joined the campaign after graduation.

Between questions, Josh leaned toward Emily again and whispered, "You're a Bartlet fan, I take it."

Emily smiled and shrugged. "Most days."

"Can I ask why?"

"Because I'd rather not be disowned," she joked, which wasn't completely far from the truth and was better than flat out saying because he's my dad. Josh chuckled, seemingly accepting her answer before looking at that goddamn crossword again.

Emily's brow furrowed. Why was he even here? He seemed more interested in her or his crossword than the candidate. Strange. He hardly seemed to be paying any attention to her father. Maybe he was one of those people who came for the free meal. But that didn't quite feel right. She eyed him curiously, but he was too preoccupied with his crossword to notice this time.

But she brushed it off and focused on her father. Emily rested her elbows on the table and cradled her chin in her hands to watch her father answer questions. They were answers she had heard him give time and time again, but he had a knack for making it sound like it was the first time. He was a captivating public speaker.

She couldn't help but smile, as her father, ever the economics professor, tried to explain to a woman that she was paying more in taxes just for being married. While Emily understood where her father was coming from, having heard the argument before, his explanation sort of went over the woman's head. _That_ was what amused her. He just couldn't help himself sometimes, which she knew from experience growing up.

Her father moved onto the next, and final question, from a man at a table a few rows in front of her. "Governor Bartlet, when you were a member of Congress, you voted against the New England Dairy Farming Compact. That vote hurt me, sir," the man said.

Emily could see the men in the corner shift uncomfortably and glare that the one whose name she couldn't remember. Tony?

But the man continued, "I'm a businessman. That vote hurt me to the tune of maybe, 10 cents a gallon. I voted for you three times for Congress. I voted for you twice for Governor. And I'm here sir, and I'd like to ask you for an explanation."

She held her breath for a moment, waiting for her father to respond as he took a moment to compose himself. He took a deep breath and said, "Yeah, I screwed you on that one."

In the corner of her eye, Emily saw Josh's head slowly lift and look at her father. His expression was one of surprise. She couldn't help but watch Josh as her father finished the exchange with the man.

"I'm sorry?" the questioner responded.

"I screwed you. You got hosed," Bartlet's response was firm. Josh still hadn't lost interest. In fact, he looked more interested in Jed Bartlet than he had all evening. He even set his newspaper back down on the table.

"Sir, I…"

"And not just you. A lot of my constituents. I put the hammer to farms in Concord, Salem,  
Laconia, and Elem."

Emily smiled at just how shocked Josh looked. After having seen this look a time or two, she had come to recognize what it meant. Josiah Bartlet was winning them over and right now he was winning over Josh.

"You guys got rogered but good."

The man questioning her father sat down, but Josiah Bartlet wasn't finished with his explanation. "Today, for the first time in history, one in five Americans living in poverty are children. One in five children live in the most abject, dangerous, hopeless, backbreaking, gut-wrenching  
, poverty, one in five, and they're children. If fidelity to freedom and democracy is the code of our civic religion then surely, the code of our humanity is faithful service to that unwritten commandment that says "We shall give our children better than we ourselves had.'"

A member of the staff began placing bowls of jello down at the table in front of them, blocking Josh's view. But he leaned closer toward Emily so that he could still keep his eyes on the Bartlet that was speaking. Emily couldn't help but notice that he didn't seem to notice how close he was to her. He was nearly on top of her. Emily slightly leaned away from him until the staff moved and the view from his chair was unobstructed.

"I voted against the bill 'cause I didn't want it to be hard for people to buy milk. I stopped some money from flowing into your pocket. If that angers you, if you resent me, I completely respect that, but if you expect anything different from the President of the United States, I suggest you vote for somebody else. Thanks very much. Hope you enjoyed the chicken."

A round of applause began to sound as Josiah Bartlet stepped off the stage. Even Josh, who had once looked bored out of his mind was applauding. Emily grinned as she clapped too. Josiah Bartlet walked around the room, waving at his constituents until he stopped at the table where Josh and Emily were seated. He looked at his daughter and shook his head.

"You always did know how to make an entrance, even as a little girl," he laughed. "Isn't that right, Leo?"

"Yes, sir," Leo said with a grin on his face as he approached the table too.

"Thanks, Dad," Emily groaned as her father bent down and placed a kiss on the top of her head before resting a hand on her shoulder. She reached up and patted her dad's hand.

"Dad?" Josh uttered in disbelief, blinking slowly.

Leo laughed and slapped Josh on the shoulder. "Josh, I'd like you to meet Jed Bartlet and it appears you've already met his daughter Emily."

"It-it's pleasure to meet you, sir," Josh said, awkwardly getting to his feet and extending his right hand toward Candidate Bartlet.

Bartelt smiled his smile for the public and shook Josh's hand when a reporter approached them. "Could I get a picture?" the man asked.

Leo told him that he could. Josh sat back down in his chair and scooted his chair a little closer to Emily for the shot. Leo stood behind Josh and Jed stood behind his daughter. They all smiled and the camera quickly flashed. He then took a second photo, just in case.

"Josh, I'm thinking we need to have a quick talk," Leo said grinning at Josh.

"Yes, Mr. Secretary," Josh responded.

"Josh," Leo groaned.

"Sorry. Yes, Leo."

"There we go," Leo chuckled, gently slapping Josh's back. He then looked at Emily and smiled. "It was good to see you, kid. We'll talk more in a bit. I want to hear all about how your last semester is going."

Emily nodded her head as she watched Josh pick a backpack from the floor and follow Leo. Several people came over and shook her father's hand before he took the seat where Josh had been sitting. "Who's your friend? The one that just left."

"His name is Josh and I just met him."

Her father eyed her curiously. "You looked awfully comfortable with him for someone you just met."

Emily rolled her eyes as another constituent approached her father. She smiled at the woman who approached him. Her father told the woman to wait just a moment before he whispered in his daughter's ear. "Hang around, Em. I'm assuming you're here for the weekend and i want to ride home with you."

"Oh, joy," Emily responded sarcastically.

Jed arched an eyebrow. "For that, we're taking the long way home."

Emily chuckled and watched her father walk away to go talk with his constituents. He never could resist talking with people. And while it often annoyed her, it showed how great his leadership skills truly were-he listened to the people. Not all politicians did that.

She sighed and reached down for her backpack. Her brow furrowed when she saw it wasn't where she had left it. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her backpack on the other side of the chair where Josh had been sitting. It must have accidentally gotten moved. WIth her foot, Emily managed to hook the strap on her foot and she slid it toward her. She was about to grab something out of it when a girl tapped on her shoulder. The girl was dressed in the same outfit as the wait staff.

"We have cake that was left over from the function last night and we wanted to know if you'd like to have some with us."

Emily smiled. "Hell, yes. I'm not one to pass up on cake." She slung her backpack over her shoulder and followed the girl into the kitchen.

Most of the staff was in college, so Emily felt right at home talking with them and eating cake. This was the part of public life that she enjoyed. She liked getting to talk with people and getting to know them, maybe even help them solve some of the problems they were facing. And doing it over a piece of cake made it completely non-threatening. Emily talked for so long that this time it was her father waiting on her, rather than the other way around. He stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame, with his arms across his chest and a smile on his face.

"You about done?" he asked Emily. His tone was teasing. He didn't mind having to wait for her, it was just strange that the tables for once had been turned.

Emily nodded her head and scooped the last bit of frosting off her plate before shoving it in her mouth. She said her goodbyes to the college folk before she headed for the door with her father.

"Why don't you give me your keys and we'll have one of the guys drive it home," her father said. Emily nodded her head and swung her backpack around to the front so that she could dig in it for her keys as she walked. But when Emily opened the backpack, she stopped in her tracks.

"No, no, no," she muttered to herself as she dug through a backpack filled with men's clothing, papers, and a name badge for Senator Hoynes' office with the name Joshua Lyman. She was too concerned about her lost things to care about the mystery of why a guy from Hoynes' office was spying on her father. Her backpack had something very precious to her in it.

Her father's brow furrowed. "Lose your keys?"

"More like lost my backpack," Emily muttered as she ran a hand through her hair. She looked around for Leo, the last person she had seen with Josh. "Leo! Leo! Leo!" Emily frantically called.

Leo turned around and saw a frantic Emily running toward him. "What?"

"Where's Josh?" she asked, gasping for breath.

Leo shrugged his shoulder. "He's probably waiting for his bus. I think it leaves soon though."

"I'll be back!" Emily called as she ran out the door. She was outside no more than a few seconds before she ran back inside. "I don't have my keys. Can someone drive me to the transit station? I really don't wanna run two miles."

Leo and her father laughed. Her father wrapped an arm around his daughter's shoulder as they stepped outside and the car was pulled around. "Get in," her father said. "I need some fresh air. So, Leo and I will be waiting here for you. If you don't come back we might freeze to death."

Emily shook her head and kissed her father's cheek before she hopped in the car and told the driver to take her to the transit station. When they came to a stop, Emily practically bolted from the car and ran into the station in search of Josh Lyman. It didn't take her long to find him. The station was quite empty and he was sitting near the gate for Boston.

Her eyes widened when she saw a rather large stack of white paper on his lap and he flipped a page. It was a novel that she had been working on for nearly a year. She treated it like it was her child and she had never showed it to anyone before. Sure one day she was planning on showing it to people...after it was published. But not today.

She quickly stormed over there. "Hey! That's my story!" she yelled at him.

"Yeah, I figured," Josh said in a carefree tone as he looked up at a frantic Emily standing in front of him. He smiled at her, which made her blood boil The nerve. How could he just read someone else's stuff like that?

"Then why are you reading it?" Emily snapped.

"Well, you see, I was going to grab something out of my backpack when I realized this wasn't my backpack. Apparently, we have the same taste in backpacks. Anyway, I was going to head back to the VFW and return it, I swear, but I saw this and got curious. Then I started reading and I just got sucked in...and then you came and started yelling at me."

Emily folded her arms across my chest. "I'm not yelling at you."

"Then what would you call it?" He smiled at her with a knowing smile. They both knew he was right, but she wasn't about to admit that. Not to someone she just met.

She chewed her lip for a moment before she responded, "Talking very sternly."

Josh laughed before he closed stack of pages he had been reading. "This is good. I mean it. It's not my genre, but I'm sure middle school girls would go wild for this."

Emily placed her arms on her hips. "How would you know? Are you secretly a middle school girl?"

"No," Josh chuckled. "That would just be weird."

"You think?"

"You should get this published, seriously."

"What do you think I'm trying to do? I'm trying to get it done before graduation so that I can get it sent off to publishers. It will be easier to explain to my parents why I'm not pursuing my law degree that way."

"They don't know?"

"No. Just you. You're the only one I've told.."

Josh's brow furrowed in confusion. "Why? Why tell me."

Emily shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I just did. I never thought I'd see you again, so I thought I could trust you."

"You can...trust me, that is."

"Can I?"

"Yeah, I'm leaving Hoynes and joining Bartlet for America."

"Oh yeah? Then why didn't you tell me who you were? Why didn't you tell me you were working for Hoynes at the dinner?"

"Pot calling the kettle black much? You didn't tell me you were Bartlet's daughter."

Emily folded her arms across her chest. "I assumed you knew."

"And I assumed you knew."

A moment of silence overtook them. Josh held up one finger to give him a second before he set her book down on the chair next to him. He then stood up and extended his right hand toward her. "Hi, I'm Josh Lyman, formerly of Senator Hoynes office and campaign, currently with Bartlet for America." He looked at her and smiled, his dimples clearly showing.

Emily sighed and shook her head before she extended her hand. "I'm Emily Bartlet, daughter of Candidate Josiah Bartlet, current Yale law student with no current aspirations to do anything with my law degree but has dreams of being an author."

They shook hands when a voice came over the loudspeaker announcing that the bus to Boston had arrived. Josh and Emily dropped hands. "That's my bus," Josh said.

"I suppose you're going to want this then?" Emily held his backpack that had been slung on her shoulder toward him. Josh chuckled and nodded his head as he reached for his backpack. He slung it over his shoulder before he stuffed Emily's book back in her bag and handed it to her.

"What were you going to do, go home with my bag?"

Josh grinned sheepishly. "I was going to give it back once I got back to New Hampshire, I promise."

Emily shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh, sure you were."

"I was, I swear. If worse came to worse, I was going to head to campus and hunt you down."

"So, basically you already had a plan formulated to kidnap my book?"

"Basically." He smiled and Emily shook her head.

They called for his bus again. "I'll be seeing you then, I guess," Josh said shifting his stance..

Emily nodded her head and tucked her hair behind her ear, smiling up at him. Josh smiled back and pat Emily on the shoulder before he walked toward his bus. He was almost there when he stopped and looked back at Emily who stood there watching him. She waved. He waved back and got on his bus, not knowing just how important she would become to him….or he to her.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Another one has escaped and I blame BeyondTheHorizonisHope and perfectlystiles (both of whom whose stories you should check out). Thank you to everyone who has supported me while I started this story. I'll confess, I'm nervous because I know most people are Josh/Donna shippers, but I wanted to try this. So, please no hate or complaining. I'd really appreciate it. It's just a character with stories I couldn't shake while watching TWW. Thanks. To those of you who are waiting for another story to be updated, I tried. I did. But my muse for Emily just wouldn't leave.**

 **Thanks to nixdragon for beta-ing this even though she knows absolutely nothing about The West Wing. Oops! haha.**

Emily's faceclaim: young Keri Russell

 _ **Reviews are always appreciated.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 _(dedicated to SarcasticEnigma-for giving me several pushes to get this done. This one's for you, my friend!)_

* * *

The sun streamed through the windows into the White House Deputy Chief of Staff's office. Josh sat on his chair rubbing his face. He was conflicted. On one hand, he wanted to keep his feelings for the president's daughter a secret, but on the other, he also wanted to shout it from the Truman Balcony...before the Secret Service got to him. He had denied that there was anything between them for a long time...or he had tried to. But somehow things always came back to her, whether he wanted them to or not.

Josh dug through the top drawer of his desk until he pulled a piece of cardstock from the campaign. It was the sign that had been taped to many office doors or windows, that had originated in the New Hampshire Bartlet for America headquarters. He smiled. While his name had been printed onto the paper, it was scribbled on with Sharpie and the whiteout was beginning to peel off in places. He could have easily had a new sign printed, but he had kept it and used it the entire campaign...because of Emily.

 _ **~*~ Bartlet Campaign Headquarters, New Hampshire~*~**_

 _Josh walked into his office at the Bartlet For America headquarters in New Hampshire, polling data piled in his hands. He tore his eyes away from the papers and came to a jerky halt. He blinked slowly when he spotted someone sitting in his chair. The only person who should be sitting in his chair was him. "Can I help you?" he asked, annoyance clearly evident in his tone._

 _A young woman wearing a winter cap looked up from the desk. She looked at him pointedly with her bright blue eyes, eyes that Josh could recognize anywhere. He had seen them often enough. The woman was Emily Bartlet, but something was different about her. He couldn't help but stare at her with his jaw dropped, much to her annoyance. It took Josh a moment to figure out what was different about her. Her hair was no longer a mess of curls. "What did you do to…" Josh made a long hair gesture._

" _I straightened it." Her tone was rather clipped, as if the response should be obvious to him. But he was in no way an expert when it came to what women did with their hair._

" _Huh. It looks nice." Josh smiled at her as a sort of peace offering._

 _Emily ran her fingers through her hair self-consciously before she stuck a pen behind her ear and stood up. She took a few steps closer to Josh and rested her hands on her hips, looking up at him, due to the seven-inch height difference, scrutinizing him as he had done to her earlier. "I honestly can't tell if you're being sarcastic or genuine. I tend to lean toward the former with you but sometimes there's a chance you're being both."_

 _Josh chuckled, glancing down at her. "I uh-was actually being genuine that time."_

" _That's a first," Emily scoffed, rolling her eyes._

" _It's been known to happen." Josh just shrugged his shoulders and smiled as he set the polling data down on his desk. He then turned toward her once more. "Now, what the hell are you doing in my office?" Josh eyed her curiously and Emily eyed him right back. She wasn't one to back down from him and he sure enjoyed egging her on in the process. It was often the highlight of his day, not that he would ever admit to such a thing._

 _Em approached him and leaned against his desk, almost sitting on it...had she been taller, she would have been. She looked up at him, her arm brushing against his. "I thought we should think of it as our office." She smiled sweetly at him and she gently patted his arm, like one would a child._

 _With his brow furrowed, Josh thought on it for a moment. He then walked outside his office and pointed to the sign outside the door and then walked back inside. "I don't see Emily Bartlet anywhere on that sign. It says, Josh Lyman. And only Josh Lyman. There's no Emily Bartlet to be seen." He tapped the window each time he said his name._

 _Raising her eyebrow as if he had just given her a challenge, she grabbed a Sharpie from his desk drawer and hid it behind her back as she walked closer to Josh. Josh looked at her curiously. Emily just smiled at him and slipped by. The sign on the window was just a piece of paper with Josh's name on it, so Emily started to write on it with the Sharpie._

 _It took Josh a few seconds to figure out what she was doing. When he did, he reached to grab her. "Hey!" Josh shouted._

 _Emily squealed and pulled the sign of the window before she took off in a sprint. Josh shook his head and chased after her. It probably wasn't the most mature or best use of his time, but with all the grueling work, he had to find fun somewhere...and that normally involved Emily. Or drinking. Emily or drinking. Emily and drinking also made for some fun...outside of work, of course. Not that he made a habit of it. Only a time or two._

 _Thankfully, she had worn her sneakers because she never would have been able to run like this in boots, flats, or heels. Emily rounded the corner away from Josh's office and ran up the stairs to the copy room. Volunteers were busy making copies and stuffing envelopes. Emily managed to avoid running into them. But Josh barrelled into one of the volunteers carrying a rather large stack of mailings. There was an explosion of paper and it almost looked like it was snowing in the copy room._

 _Hoping Josh was distracted, Emily ran toward the stairs, still holding onto the sign. After picking up only a few papers, Josh growled under his breath and took off after Emily again. He knew that it was rather pointless to do so. He could easily reprint another sign. But Josh was bound and determined to finish what was started. Besides, sometimes one caved to their inner child's demands. Something had happened more often with Emily than it did with others. Not that he necessarily qualified as an old man, but being in his thirties it was exhilarating to indulge his inner child and not be completely chastised._

 _Emily made her way to the bullpen where most of the desks were located, in the front of the office building. They were all out in the open, not single offices like the one Josh had. Not that Josh was the only one with an office. Leo McGarry also had one. As did her father. But the majority of the workers and volunteers were located in the front bullpen._

 _Sam Seaborn looked at Emily with uncertainty as she ran toward him. He knew she was up to something. He was never quite sure when it came to Emily Bartlet and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Sam sighed and picked up the polling data from his desk as Emily wheeled herself behind him._

" _Sam, can I borrow your back for a second?" Emily asked._

" _Yeah, sure," Sam responded with a shrug as he continued to look at the new polling data. Emily then set the piece of paper on his back. "Can I ask what you're doing? Although, if it's a crime, I wouldn't tell me. It's not a crime is it?" Sam kept trying to turn his head to see what Emily was doing. "Is it?" Sam's tone sounded a little worried. "Emily?"_

 _Josh finally showed up, panting for breath. "Sam!" he groaned, throwing his hands up in exasperation._

 _Sam's head snapped toward Josh when his name was called. After seeing his friend's expression, he whispered over his shoulder to Emily. "On second thought, if we're messing with Josh, I don't care if it's a crime, I got you covered if you need a lawyer."_

 _Emily laughed as she wrote on the paper on Sam's back. Sam couldn't help but wiggle his shoulders because the writing tickled a bit._

" _You know that I heard that," Josh stated as he tried to reach around Sam to grab the paper, but Sam slapped Josh's arm down while still managing to hold onto the polling data. "Hey!" Josh yelped, withdrawing his right hand, holding it in his left hand like it was an injured wing._

" _So, what exactly am I getting in the middle of?" Sam asked curiously, raising an eyebrow and then looking between Josh and Emily._

" _A custody dispute," Emily said, looking at Josh and smirking at him over Sam's shoulder._

 _Josh rolled his eyes and shook his head. "For_ my _office," he argued, pointing at himself with both his hands._

" _You mean the office you wouldn't let me share with you?" Sam questioned. "That you said I could share with you and then later said we couldn't fit two desks in there so I had to come out here?"_

 _Josh nodded his head reluctantly._

 _Sam folded his arms across his chest. "Then I'm taking Em's side on this one...out of spite."_

" _But she doesn't even work here!" Josh argued. Emily arched an eyebrow at him, so he quickly redirected his argument before she could. "You're a volunteer. Volunteers don't get offices."_

" _But I'm the President's future daughter," Emily retorted. Her brow then furrowed. Her words didn't quite make sense for what she was arguing. "That came out wrong."_

" _Yeah it did," Josh scoffed, his tone was teasing, biting back some witty retort about her supposedly being good with words trying to be an author and all. But no one else in the office, as far as he knew, knew that about Emily. He wasn't going to be the one to divulge her secret. That was her business, not his._

 _Emily blushed at Josh's words before she muttered, "You know what I meant."_

 _Josh folded his arms across his chest and nodded his head. "Yeah." There was a moment of silence before he extended his hand toward Sam and Emily. "Now, hand over the sign and no one gets hurt."_

" _Are you threatening the boss's daughter?" Emily questioned with a quizzical brow, cocking her head out from behind Sam._

" _Maybe I am."_

" _And what exactly are you planning on doing?"_

" _Well, for starters…"_

 _Josh swung his arms dramatically toward his office to make a point. Only he didn't see Toby approaching with a cup of coffee. Josh's hand struck Toby's coffee cup, dumping the entire contents of Toby's cup down the front of his shirt. Time seemed to freeze in the room. Josh stood there with his arm still extended and a shocked expression on his face, waiting for the eruption about to come from Toby._

" _What the hell is going on here? Are we running a zoo in here now?" Toby hissed attempting to mop up the spilled coffee from his shirt but failing miserably. He was soaking wet and seething. Not the greatest combination._

 _Josh stood there too stunned to move. Emily tried to hide the laughter that threatened to escape. Toby grumbled to himself as he walked over to a filing cabinet and pulled a Bartlet for America t-shirt out. He then pointed at Josh. "I want an explanation when I get back." He then walked away to change his shirt in the bathroom._

" _Someone's in trouble," Emily said, her voice in a sing-song tone._

" _You started all this!" Josh shot back, swinging his arm again. He quickly recoiled and turned to make sure Toby wasn't there...again._

 _Emily shook her head. "I was just fixing our sign. You're the one that spilled Toby's coffee and awakened the beast. You did that one all on your own."_

" _She makes a fair point," Sam said, leaning against a desk with his arms folded across his chest. "You're the one that dragged Toby into this."_

" _Shut up, Sam!" was all Josh could manage as a comeback before Toby returned._

 _Toby looked peeved and even more so at Josh. He skulked back to his desk and sat down before grabbing the bagel on his desk. He took a bite and then narrowed his eyes at Josh. "You owe me a new shirt."_

" _Oh, c'mon, Toby," Josh groaned. "It wasn't that bad."_

 _Toby arched an eyebrow, daring Josh to argue him on it. Instead, Josh changed gears. "It was Emily's fault. She took down my sign and…won't give it back." Josh finished rather lamely, realizing how immature the whole thing sounded. Emily smirked when Josh met her eyes. He grumbled under his breath upon a rather incredulous look from Toby._

" _Good for you," Toby said turning to Emily. "Don't give him a damn thing. Ever. He deserves what he gets."_

 _Emily nodded before she beamed at Josh, who shook his head in disbelief. He couldn't believe what was coming from Toby's mouth. Josh raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. "I can understand Sam being on Team Emily. But you, Toby? You?"_

" _She brings me bagels and good coffee," Toby said with a shrug. He lifted the bagel he was eating toward Josh before he took another bite._

 _Josh rolled his eyes. "Because she's trying to suck up to you."_

 _Toby looked down at his bagel and then at Emily. She smiled. "You might want to try it because it looks like what she's doing is working," he said before taking another bite. "Besides you spilled my coffee."_

 _Josh turned to stare at Toby incredulously. Toby just ignored Josh. Josh shook his head and turned back toward Emily, who was still hiding behind Sam. "It's my name on the window."_

" _Technically, your name is off the window because it's in my hand," Emily argued. She then looked at the sign, in her hand and glanced at Josh once more. "And if we're getting really technical, while your name is on here...mine is too."_

 _Emily held the poster up over Sam's shoulder for Josh to see. Her name had been added in Sharpie below Josh's. Despite having been written on Sam's back, her name was written in beautiful cursive. Emily offered a sly smile._

" _That's not official," Josh argued pointing at it._

" _I can make it official," C.J. said, walking into the room and joining the conversation. She snatched the paper from Emily and walked over to her desk. She opened her desk drawer and pulled out a roll of stickers for the campaign. C.J. stuck a sticker on the paper and handed it back to Emily. "There. Bartlet approved."_

 _Josh's lower jaw dropped and he looked between Emily and C.J. incredulously. He then zeroed in on Emily. "When did you turn C.J. against me?"_

 _Emily grinned and shrugged her shoulders, looking to C.J. for support._

" _I've always been Team Emily, Joshua." C.J. reached over and high-fived Emily. "You've just been too full of yourself to notice it."_

" _You've got to be kidding me," Josh groaned as he rubbed his hand over his face._

" _Is there anyone here who actually likes me better?" Josh said rather dramatically, with hand gestures motioning toward everyone in the room. Silence. "Anyone?" he repeated in disbelief._

 _Emily came out from her hiding spot behind Sam and gently patted Josh's shoulder. "Ah, the keen sting of rejection," she told him. Josh shrugged her hand off, which made her chuckle. "Only because I don't want to be considered egotistical, I can like you better." Her words were meant in jest, but she quickly realized their double meaning and ferociously blushed._

 _Thankfully, if Josh noticed, he didn't say anything. But when Emily caught C.J.'s eyes, she could have sworn C.J. winked at her. Emily quickly looked away and nervously ran her fingers through her straightened hair. A staffer came into the bullpen and told Josh that he had a call on line one._

" _This isn't over," Josh said pointing at Emily before he briskly walked back toward his office._

 _Emily chuckled to herself as she watched him walk away. While she really enjoyed the group of people they had collected thus far at the office, she was probably closest to Josh. He was also the reason she had come in this morning. There was something she wanted to talk to him about. So after everyone went back to their scheduled work, Emily made her way back to Josh's office again._

 _He noticed her the moment she was in his doorway. Josh was sitting at his desk with the phone up to his ear. He made a "shoot me" motion with his hand along with a face of annoyance as he continued to talk to whoever was on the line. Emily grabbed the tape from his desk and put the sign back up on his window. He made no motion to stop her. He just smiled and shook his head._

 _Emily sat down on a chair opposite his on the other side of his desk. She pulled her legs up, so that she sat criss-cross applesauce, and she waited for his conversation to end. When Josh finally hung up the phone he looked at her curiously. "So, what are you doing here?" he asked her._

 _Nervously, Emily tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear. She then pulled her satchel bag onto her lap and opened it. She looked down and took a deep breath before she glanced at Josh. Then, out of her bag, she pulled a stack of paper._

" _Please don't tell me that's more polling data. I've had it up to here with Sam and the polling data today," Josh said gesturing to his head._

" _No," Emily sighed. "It's something a little more personal to me than polling data." She then dropped the pages on his desk. It was her book. "I finished it," Emily said without making eye contact with Josh._

" _Congrats," he said earnestly flipping through a few pages without reading it. "I know how hard you were working on that."_

 _She nodded her head. "Yeah, well, you're the only one who knows."_

" _Still?" Josh asked incredulously. He flipped a few more pages of the book and then looked back at Emily. "You haven't told anyone yet?"_

 _She squirmed uncomfortably from where she sat across from him. "No."_

" _Why not?"_

 _His question seemed perfectly reasonable, but she wasn't sure her answer would make sense to him. Emily took a deep breath and tried to continue. "Because I need to make sure it doesn't completely suck before I tell my parents that I gave up on practicing law to pursue writing." Emily nervously tugged at her hair. "You're the only person I know who has seen this who will give me an honest opinion."_

" _You want me to read this?" Josh blinked several times in disbelief._

" _Please? You're the only one I trust with this. I know you'll give it to me like it is and I was hoping that you'd be willing to help me tweak a few things which is why I thought I could come work in your office while you're working. I won't bother you, I'll just be in the corner working. I just need you to yell at me if I'm getting off track. You won't even know I'm here."_

 _Josh was flabbergasted by her offer. He hadn't expected it. But of course, he had to respond to it in typical Josh fashion. "That's kinda contradictory, isn't it? You want me to yell at you if you're getting off track implies that I will know you're here...or if I don't know you're here, I won't be able to yell at you."_

 _Emily groaned. "Josh, please? I need your help. I hate asking people for help, but I need your help with this. I case you haven't figured it out, I don't do this. I don't ask people for help. So, if it's some sort of bribe you require, I'm not opposed to some sort of arrangement. Also, I sent a few manuscripts out and I put the address here so that my parents don't find out, so I was hoping you could track the rejection notices down for me when they come in."_

" _Someone will pick it up, Em," Josh said, offering her a smile._

" _You don't know that. You haven't even read it!"_

" _What I have read was good though. Like I said last time, not my genre; but I'm sure there is a generation of middle school girls waiting to read this."_

 _Emily twirled her hair in her fingers and sighed. "Will you help me? Please?"_

 _Josh leaned back in his chair. He had no intention of denying her, but that didn't mean he couldn't have some fun with it. Josh stroked his chin, pretending to ponder the predicament._

" _Josh," Emily groaned._

" _I'm thinking," he responded._

" _Think faster." By this point she was on her feet, leaning against the front of his desk waiting for an answer._

 _That made him laugh. He eyed her with a small smile on his face. "If I'm gonna do this, I have a few things I'm going to want in return."_

 _Emily nodded her head and released the sigh she had been holding onto. "I said I wasn't opposed to a list of demands as long as they're all legal and within reason."_

" _Technically, you didn't say that. You just said you weren't opposed to bribery, which in some if not most cases is illegal."_

" _Josh!" Her eyes were wide and she didn't look amused._

" _Okay. Okay." He held his hands up in defense, should she decide to reach across the desk and smack him. "First, you gotta bring me in coffee."_

 _Emily arched an eyebrow and placed a hand on her hip. "I already bring you coffee, quite regularly."_

 _Josh nodded. "See? Not too hard if you're already doing it."_

 _She didn't look amused, but she motioned with her head for him to continue._

" _Caloric intake will also be necessary."_

 _Again, Emily didn't look amused. She rolled her eyes. "Where do you think the doughnuts come from? You think they just magically appear?" But she knew that he was messing with her. It was more fun to go along with it._

 _Josh shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, pretty much." The expression on Emily's face made him laugh. "This last one I'll be serious," he told her. "Most of my help is gonna have to come after work. I gotta get your dad elected. So, it'll probably have to be working dinners or after work is done."_

 _Emily nodded her head. "I assumed as much. Honestly, any help you can give me will be appreciated. And I think I can meet your list of demands. But I have one thing of my own."_

 _Josh's brow furrowed before he looked at her rather curiously. "You're not really in a position to be making demands, are you?"_

" _Well, I'm gonna do it anyway," Emily retorted. "The sign stays." She pointed to the cause of much havoc a little bit earlier. "This way they know where to put my mail." She looked at Josh rather pointedly, hoping he remembered the fact that she said she told the publishers to send her stuff here._

 _He slowly nodded his head and stuck his hand out for her to shake. "It can stay, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to complain about it. Because I will. Frequently."_

" _I wouldn't expect any differently," Emily said before she reached out and shook Josh's hand._

 _Josh was surprised by how warm and soft her hand was that he accidentally held onto her hand a few seconds longer than what was normal. So, he released her hand and drummed his fingers against his desk. "I-uh-I'll read some of it tonight."_

" _Thank you, Josh. Really, I mean it. I don't know what I'd do without you."_

" _Die probably," he retorted with a grin on his face._

 _Emily rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Well, I'll let you get back to work," she said tucking her hair behind her ear again. "Thanks again."_

 _Josh nodded his head and waved her off as she left his office. Little did he know just how much time he would be spending with Emily Bartlet in the coming months. Maybe he could have prepared himself better. Then again, was anyone truly ever prepared to fall in love?_

* * *

 ** _Author's Note: Yeah-it's been a while. Sorry. I'll confess, the positive response overwhelmed me. And then I kept going back and forth on what I wanted to do. But thank you so much to all of you who read this! It means a lot to me. Again, this isn't my best, but it is what it is and most of it has been sitting on my Google Docs for a while. So, hopefully the next chapter will be better._**


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